Israel rearrests prominent Palestinian lawmaker Khalida Jarrar in West Bank raid

Ghassan Jarrar, the husband of the 57-year-old activist, said Israeli forces arrested her from her home in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Thursday.

According to Jarrar's daughter, Yafa Jarrar, 70 Israeli soldiers and 12 military vehicles were involved in the arrest operation.

"My mom, Khalida Jarrar, was arrested from our house in Ramallah moments ago... Mom and sister were asleep when they approached," Yafa tweeted Thursday.

Jarrar, a senior official with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), was released in February from 20 months of administrative detention, an Israeli policy that allows detention without trial for renewable six-month periods.

In a tweet, the Israeli military said it had made several arrests in the West Bank overnight for "terror" related charges. The military declined to comment on the identity of those arrested.

Twitter Post

Israel's Shin Bet domestic security agency declined to comment.

Jarrar was arrested on 2 July, 2017 for her work in the left wing PFLP, a movement considered a terrorist organisation by Israel, the United States and the European Union.

Details of the accusations against her were kept secret, as is customary with Israeli administrative detention orders.

The six-month administrative detention order issued in July 2017 was extended the following December by another six months "after security personnel found she still poses a substantial threat," the Israeli army said then. Her detention continued to be extended until her release.

Palestinian academic Dr. Yara Hawari, at the time of her release, said "Khalida Jarrar is free but she leaves behind over 50 Palestinian female political prisoners who are being held by the Israeli Zionist regime."

Many PFLP leaders are in custody and Jarrar has been jailed multiple times.

She had only been released in June 2016 after 14 months in an Israeli jail for allegedly encouraging attacks against Israelis.

Israel says administrative detention is intended to allow authorities to hold suspects while continuing to gather evidence, with the aim of preventing attacks in the meantime.

But the system has been criticised by Palestinians, human rights groups and members of the international community who say Israel abuses the measure.

"This is the treatment reserved to Palestinians of all walks of life whenever they have the gall to resist their oppressors," activist Malia Bouattia wrote in an article for The New Arab last year.

Agencies contributed to this report.

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